I use food from time to time to escape. And when I need to escape, there are few things that derail my sugar express train from reaching its destination. I’m much improved I’ll have you know. I’ve graduated from the days of drawing the curtains, taking the phone off the hook and curling up by candlelight with a sexy piece of chocolate fudge cake. (Don’t you dare judge me.)

Nearly 40 pounds of flesh gone battling this most recent sugar war, however I still slip, slide and escape the stressors and overwhelming excitement of life with what I call recreationalouttakes (sugary treats). I’m human. I lovingly accept this about myself until my fat dresses (the loose-fitting tenty ones) get recirculated into my wardrobe. Even during the pounds down and healthful living months, I may covet your slice of chocolate cake. Your glazed twist donut from that pink box in the breakroom at work leers at me. The devil’s minions from the checkout aisle at CVS also known as Candy Corn have my number.

Sooner or later, without fail, I inevitably cave in to temptation. I may even tell myself I’ve earned it. Dad now has Stage 4. The woman in accounting is deliberately messing with my checks. The mechanic says the engine light issue and unrelated poltergeist screech from under the hood aren’t concerning him as much as the failing breaks beneath my car. Game over. It’s time for a nibble. Those mixed greens, avocado + nuts and protein ain’t gonna cut it either. Not today. Do kindly put a pin in that meditation app and journal exercise workbook too for the moment. Been there, done that. Right now, Momma needs sugar. Sweet, tantalizing, brain-freezing, heart-thumping and blood rushing sugar.

(I left out tooth-decaying and waist-expanding on purpose. Hardly sexy.)

Sugar knows how to work it. Sugar takes the edge off when life is rough, and adds extra sweetness when life shines brightly. Champagne toast anyone? Growing up both Momma Rozie and Auntie Shirley yelled “Gimme some SUGAR!!!” in their most raspy voices immediately preceding wet, smoochy, kisses. The nurses gave lollipops after those mean nasty shots, and ice-cream socials were rewards for being good girls and boys out on the playground at public school. A most divine Nina Simone sirened for sugar in her bowl in 1967 for the bluesy grown ups, while Kellogg’s kept it real with Sugar Smacks cereal for the kiddos well over a decade prior (1953). The sugar pushers were here long before I arrived, and will continue long after I’m gone. Sugar isn’t going anywhere so I must be prepared.

Breaking the Sugar Habit – A Daily Recommitment

I am a work in progress. On most days I’ve got the sugar thing kicked. I read the labels. I steer clear of processed foods and junky foods, most of the time. I’m a public health activist tackling the obesity epidemic via social media with a quite fascinating global roster of experts and advocates from Long Beach, CA to the WHO in the Land Down Under who actually know my name.

What most don’t know is that I’m dragonslaying what feels like a world class sugar addiction on the down-low at home too. At times I feel like a hypocrite – a phoney baloney as the occasional dessert arrives after dining out. Care to share one? Not really, I’d prefer my own. Other days dark sunglasses may cover my eyes (as if hiding from the paparazzi) when the redheaded teen from the local bakery places a particularly decadent cherry pastry into my care as I rush back to my car for a quick bite in solitude. I told you I didn’t care that sugar fogs my brain.

And that’s entirely untrue.

In September of 1995, my mother suffered a Type-2 diabetic stroke. She was in a coma lasting four days. She awoke blind, completely paralyzed on the right-side of her body and lost the ability to speak. Six weeks later she died. She was 49 years old.

I’ll be 43 next month.

And yet it – sugar – still gets to me. Time and time again. The achy joints and itchy cravings for more shortly thereafter are the consequences – side effects due to consumption. Often times I mindfully weigh the pros and cons of a pending sugar binge. Sometimes it works. Other times it doesn’t. And hold up, when I say sugar binge, that can mean anything from a glass of cranberry juice (you know, to cleanse the kidneys…*eyeroll* who told us that?) to the entire sleeve of fat-free cookies – because surely the fat-free label somehow evaporates the added sugar slipped neatly inside the contents to make them taste, well, better.

As for the “sugar fogs the brain” thing – it’s real. I’m not making it up. The science is there to support it. What sugar does to our nucleus accumbens (reward center of the brain) or what I call the “That was easy” button in my head triggers literal relief and relaxation within those first few sugar-coated bites, or sips. It’s pretty much all downhill from there.

But I’m not giving up.

Dr. Robert Lustig wrote a short and sweet piece on sugar and its effects for The Atlantic back in 2012 titled, The Most Happy of Unpleasures, This is Your Brain on Sugar. Read it. Then read it again. Especially this, “Rich people are addicted to money, power, gambling; middle-class people are addicted to cocaine, amphetamine, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin. The poor, well, all they’ve got is sugar.” Then think about lower income communities across the world and the food supply (or lack thereof) in their neighborhoods. Why is junk food and Coca-cola everywhere? Why is this ok? How can we change it?

I’m not poor. Well not currently. Nor am I uninformed about the dangers and consequences of sugar both personally and professionally. Sugar is one of the cheapest and most readily available substances found within our food supply that’s making us very sick. But I love it. Okay maybe not love it, but sometimes I feel as though I need it – emotionally perhaps. Until I give it up. The shame I sometimes feel over not being able to refuse it actually makes me feel like an addict. Maybe I am. Though I could also be a unicorn given my love for Skittles.

My daughter shared this is what happens when unicorns “Taste the Rainbow”.

What I have learned is that it takes a daily recommitment to battling the sugar war, an arsenal of resources, and a great network of support. Perhaps a bit of Higher Power too. And even with all of that, my food plan scorecard isn’t perfect. Ain’t gonna happen. But I can make it better, and I recommit daily to doing it. Especially after I stumble.

So. Just keep going. If you are aiming to kick the habit or still dangling over the precipice thinking, “I’ll start this thing Monday…or the first of the month, wait, no make that the 15th…better yet, after this stressful period ends…or when we return from vacation,” remember Today isn’t over. Start now. And should you fall off and skin your knee with those deep dish brownies, start again.

And then again.

***

Interested in learning more? Check out this short video on sugar, and then follow Miseducated Dieter on Facebook for updates on current articles and headlines addressing health here in the US and abroad.

]]>https://literatigurl.com/2017/10/07/breaking-the-sugar-habit-a-daily-recommitment/feed/0CandyCornliteratigurllaCandyCornskittles_overdose_by_sebreg-d4ocm5pWhy (Do) I Botherhttps://literatigurl.com/2017/07/27/why-do-i-bother/
https://literatigurl.com/2017/07/27/why-do-i-bother/#respondThu, 27 Jul 2017 13:03:09 +0000http://literatigurl.com/?p=10747]]>The odds are stacked against me!
They always lie and cheat
It breaks the heart
And scars the flesh
How am I sharpened by defeat?!

Why do I bother, Lord Almighty
Poor souls to finish last?
It makes me weary,
All feels lost,
Those with PRIVILEGE gain a pass!

Why do I bother, Jesus!
My tears ungrateful, You said to ask…

…The Spirit whispers, I can hear Him
So divine, he shares my task:

“It is time for your surrender,” He answers
“Stand down, You aren’t alone
I have kept every single promise, girl –
Within you now resides His throne…

Great winds will hit their coldest chill,
And as you face the longest hill,
I’m with you most,
As is the Ghost,
It is finished, God is real.

Whichever path you travel,
No matter how long, or deep, or wide,
Come to Him – FIRST
He will not fail,
He is with you, don’t break stride

But even when you cast your doubts,
Your fists raging at the sky,
There is counsel,
a guiding force,
a light,
Residing in you from most High

You bother by design, My child
So beautifully and wonderfully made,
Remain steadfast through
their snipes and snarls,
It sharpens iron for you, most brave.

Now tell the others who can hear Me
They’re strengthened by this too
Remind them how you’re devoted to Me,
Your scars and imperfections,
Prove His Word true.

You must bother by design, My love
All are chosen for each task,
Your heart is bold,
Now go, Take hold –
His work and promises, unsurpassed.”

I pass this along,
loved ones and friends
Take from them what you will,
Some will snicker by design,
No worries, I’ve had my fill

He’s with me morning, noon and night
I’m learning, from Psalmists and the Word…
My breath quickens as I grab my pen
He assures me, I am heard

Rest easy for the night, my dears
Relief by day is coming too,
Have no fear –
Our King is near
It’s TODAY, Begin anew

I bother because it’s by design
And at times painful is the cost,
But through my fear,
The King is here…

]]>https://literatigurl.com/2017/07/27/why-do-i-bother/feed/0IMG_5483literatigurllaIMG_5469Women of Faith: God Does Not Waste a Hurt – Reflections from a Survivorhttps://literatigurl.com/2017/07/06/women-of-faith-god-does-not-waste-a-hurt-reflections-from-a-survivor/
https://literatigurl.com/2017/07/06/women-of-faith-god-does-not-waste-a-hurt-reflections-from-a-survivor/#respondThu, 06 Jul 2017 17:01:30 +0000http://literatigurl.com/?p=10690]]>

Image Credit: Kimberly A. Cooper

Bitter tears welled as I heard the words flow across her lips that night. God does not waste a hurt. Another deep sigh cleared my lungs, the exhale moving cautiously through my nose and mouth. I was there because my zen-place was taking longer than usual to locate. My emotions were rising steadily. I didn’t want to be here with them.

Lord don’t you see how tired I am? They said You are always with me, that You feel the pain alongside me, that You will restore me. But where are you now? It doesn’t feel like enough. You, and your promises, don’t feel like enough.

I sat alone fidgeting among the back row of folding chairs as the woman from the video went on about how the abuse she endured as a young girl helped her “give back” and create hope and opportunity for others. Her father tried to kill her when she was just a child.

“God saved me,” she continued. I could feel a familiar bitterness churn deeply from within the pit of my stomach. Where was all this negative energy coming from? It was a Friday night and there I was at church again, moments away from breaking into the smaller groups where other Christian women would soon confide their challenges with anger and resentment with one another. As I looked around the packed church meeting room of at least 100 or so men and women in their early 20s to late 80s, a deep sadness washed over me. As disappointed as I was by certain people and challenging situations that week, I couldn’t shake the frustration that seemed to take hold over me.

Growing up I attended church every Sunday, youth group on Thursday nights, followed by bible camp each summer break. Nevertheless, I would still discover the world of pedophilia from a grown man at the age of seven, later sexually assaulted at 19, and again in my mid-thirties just months after leaving an emotionally abusive and alcoholic husband. Instead of feeling empowered by all that I’d overcome, I was worn out again. Those men hurt me and it’s not fair! I called out to you Lord. Protect me! Save me!Send the cavalry – or remove me from the battlefield altogether. Burnt out and fed up, I soon returned to church.

Image Credit: ToWellWithYou.com

For the record I would prefer that my rededication to Christ include that extraordinary bright light breaking through the clouds like the one from that 80’s TV show Highway to Heaven. You know, make it snazzy that God is omnipresent and handling things for the good and in my favor. For years I prayed earnestly for a Christian fix. Just tell me how many scriptures to read before feeling better. Do I need to go to church every Sunday? Any brownie points for the prerequisite years in bible school as a kid?

While other women shared about being angry with their kids, spouses, employers and aging parents, I shared that night that I was angry with God. This wasn’t my first time in the ring swinging high, low and hard at the Almighty for allowing the abuse when I was just a child, losing a mother to a diabetic stroke my senior year in college, or the paralyzing grief and uncertainty that lingers with my father now facing stage-four cancer. That night, I could no longer choke back tears and hide. Defenses down, I completely broke down.

Image credit: BrokenPurposes.com

“I feel lost,” I cried. Tears flowing down my cheeks, I could feel a sense of release almost immediately. As I shared what was troubling me, namely that I feared my quietly contained rage was actually making me physically ill, distancing me from my children, and yes, from closer relationship with God — each and every woman nodded back at me. We hear you, Sis. God works powerfully through our strangers and neighbors too, I realized, remembering that I wasn’t alone.

I was in fact, grieving. I was grieving the stolen innocence of my youth, the broken promises from a failed relationship, and feelings of inadequacy at not being able to sufficiently provide for and protect my kids from some of the dangers and hardships they’d faced over the past few years.

But then somehow, little by slowly it registered that this room of unknown women were in fact part of the calvary that I’d been praying for. Still emotionally raw, I didn’t stay for fellowship that particular night but I knew I would be back. I returned instead to a quiet apartment greeted enthusiastically by a six-month old puppy. She’s so much like me – eager to please and show what she can do, though not always versed on when it’s okay to roam and when to heel. She’s still learning. So am I.

Waiting for my son and daughter to return home, I filled our small apartment with music soon grabbing for my guitar with dusty strings grossly out of tune. It had been many months since I last played. Music was another tool that comforted me during periods of deep sorrow. The puppy sat and listened, her ears twitching on occasion as I worked out the chords and picking pattern to several new songs,thankful to the loving parents and amazing uncles who opened the door to acoustic guitar over three decades earlier.

The night ended with both my son and daughter sprawled across my bed, and big laughs from Lego Batman on our family’s flatscreen TV. As angry and bitter as I may have felt earlier that day, that week, that month, I closed out this night in the presence of laughter and love alongside my very own tribe. They too, are my prayers answered.

The following Sunday’s church service fortuitously centered on the subject of Grief. A thought then arose – much like a whisper, that perhaps I wasn’t meant to cross the finish line of this wintered season of grieving alone. Instead I was to be carried over it – in community with the women who have travelled this journey before me, and alongside me, making room for those not yet finding their way to us.

God does not waste a hurt. Thank you Lord, for your women of faith who continue to remind me.

Are we really surprised? The federal rule that would make it mandatory for restaurant, supermarket and convenience store chains to post calorie counts on their menus may be delayed yetagain just days before taking effect on May 5, 2017. This process has pushed on for seven years now…

As a mother, public health activist, and decidedly engaged in what’s happening within our larger food industry practices impacting the health of our kids, learning that the current administration is attempting to delay menu labeling (to lift some of the burdening regulations for business owners) isn’t shocking. This latest stall attempt however doesn’t prevent us from staying informed about what’s going on in and behind the food that’s available to us when dining out – or the benefits to having this nutritional information easily accessible.

Why Menu-Labeling Helps…

In its simplest practice, menu labeling is a step in the right direction toward nutritional transparency along with aiding consumers make empowered decisions about their food choices in clear and easy ways. While there is much debate over whether “calorie-counting” is an effective tool for weight control – access to calorie and nutrition information can and does impact the decision making process when out and away from home. (Parents and schools really want to pay close attention to sugar content too!)

Never do I face this more when staring into the glass case of pastries and breakfast options at my local Starbucks (where menu labeling is already provided) while awaiting my Saturday cup of Pike roast! But more importantly, as Mom, I want to help inform my kids on how to best empower themselves by making healthful choices – and at the very least – mindful choices about the foods that they reach for while away from me too. The momentary pause I take to review the options and nutritional information when we are out to eat or headed into the movie theater isn’t lost to them.

Empowering Our Kids to Make Healthful Decisions

Teaching children how to read nutritional labels on packages should begin when they are learning to read and can help out in the kitchen. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health launched its Choose Health LA Restaurants program to help families locate food establishments with menu labeling/reduced portion sizes, healthful options for kids and easy tips for dining out.

It’s important for us to keep in mind – all calories are not created equal. A 12 oz. Coke with 140 calories (39 grams of sugar) isn’t healthier for you than say a one oz. serving of almonds (23 nuts) with 163 calories just because the calories in the soda are lower.

Whether we are “counting calories” or not – being aware of calorie content promotes increased nutrition education and awareness. Mindful eating is one of the most important steps toward overall health – deepest thanks to those restaurants and food chains already in compliance with this important menu-labeling law.

Knowledge is power, and when we are empowered with the means to make healthier lifestyle habits, our kids reap the benefits too!

Growing up, Saturday morning meant two things: Cartoon time, and that we were allowed to eat the sweeter cereals if available from the kitchen cabinet. The multicolored ones that changed the milk in my cereal bowl from white to pink were my favorite. Woohoo! Silly rabbit, Trix were for me too!

However soon those weekend rendezvous with the white rabbit later progressed to cereal straight out of the box as a snack after school. In time it became easier to eat it (cereal) after dinner every once and awhile if I was craving something sweet and we didn’t have any traditional dessert. A bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with milk only has 150 calories according to the box for a serving. Sounds good, however what size is the actual cereal bowl? Does my body digest processed sugars found in cereals like it used to? How would I know? Turns out many of us with a few extra “tummy” inches to lose may not be digesting processed foods and sugar well at all and it may be making us sicker than we realize.

Looking back, I wasn’t just eating cereal, I was caught in a never-ending food cycle leading to cravings for even more sugar and processed foods. I wouldn’t realize this until years later while planning The Miseducated Dieter series. Saturday morning cartoons were just the beginning.

I was already hot on the trail of Gatorade since January 2016 when I learned that the sports drink company (a subsidiary of PepsiCo) was testing products on student athletes at an elite boarding school here in the U.S. While I was also a competitive student athlete in high school, the notion seemed absurd. And honestly, sorta criminal. How was this allowable?

When I forwarded the article out over Twitter, less than an hour later I received other links to Gatorade’s campaigns to market into schools and across gaming devices. Let’s be honest, what percentage of kids drinking Gatorade are performance athletes? And even if that percentage was higher, is Gatorade what they should be drinking? The whole, “at least it’s better than soda” myth isn’t holding up anymore. When kids get hooked on sugary drinks, they want more of them – leading to increased cravings for other unhealthy foods as well. That’s fantastic news for the food industry, while life-threatening to our children and families.

While working on this very post, my daughter was watching YouTube videos on Star Wars (she’s a die hard fan) and just before moving on to the next clip she came across a new ad from Gatorade.

Released in December, it opens with a young African American boy (looking to be the same age as my son) with a basketball sitting on the couch in his home. You can overhear what appears to be his parents arguing. He leaves the house and he’s called after by what may be street hustlers or drug dealers (the audience is left to draw conclusions.) The young boy is moving through an inner city neighborhood of Chicago and soon we discover that the little boy is none other than NBA all-star Dwyane Wade. We learn he’s returned to play for the Chicago Bulls and he’s giving back “hope” to his community now that he’s back in his hometown. Thanks to and presented by Gatorade.

The powerful imagery throughout the video is guaranteed to resonate with aspiring hoopsters across America – especially our youngest players from urban cities. Thing is, we watch athletes at the top of their game endorse products which aren’t the healthiest for us, but do we ever see what happens to them years later?

NBA all-stars Dominique Wilkins, Patrick Ewing, and Isiah Thomas a generation before Dwyane Wade once promoted the official soft-drink of the NBA as well. Then it was Minute Maid Orange Soda by the Coca Cola Company:

Now retired, Dominique Wilkins seen above is a spokesperson for Victoza, a diabetes medication. (If you make it through the extensive list of possible side-effects, give yourself a gold star.)

There was a time when I didn’t understand fully the dangerous messaging inherent within these ads targeting children of color. I too was once a young basketball player – my heroes at the time were Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. If they drank Minute Maid Orange, then it must be the real deal. I didn’t know anything about celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing strategies by corporations like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. I learned that after college when I spent six years in the advertising division for a publishing company. We know these drinks are filled with sugar. Meanwhile the food industry is permitted to target communities with the highest percentages of Type 2 diabetes both here and abroad.

It’s Not About Willpower

The food & beverage industries spend billions annually to influence our diet patterns with strategically placed advertising on television, in supermarkets, our schools, the neighborhoods we live in, and now cleverly through gaming and social media.

When unfamiliar with the external factors impacting (if not promoting) the obesity epidemic among our most vulnerable population – children, we leave room for the industry to shift blame and responsibility back to parents, schools, and kids themselves.

Center for Science in the Public Interest (“CSPI”) and Healthy Food America are two of my favorite nonprofit organizations fighting food industry tactics online via social media. They both offer breaking news on health issues affecting our country, and often participate in #FoodFri (Food Friday) Twitter chats where community organizations, parents, educators and advocates can follow one another and share resources on topics like sugary beverages being marketed disproportionately to children of color or how the supermarket is rigged to promote secret deals with food manufacturers.

Other organizations like Berkeley Media Studies Group work with health advocates to practice media advocacy — the strategic use of mass media to advance policies that improve health. I highly recommend checking out their site if interested in getting more active with promoting nutrition education and health literacy.

Finding “Balance” Within Industry Marketing Tactics

“America’s beverage industry is determined to crack the code on how to help people reduce their sugar consumption from beverages by promoting smaller portion sizes, water and other lower-calorie beverages.” Susan Neely – American Beverage Association President and CEO. (This quote was included within the press release for A Partnership for a Healthier America’s “Drink Up” campaign launched in East Los Angeles in December 2016 to promote increased water consumption.)

According to their Delivering Choices website, “America’s Beverage Companies are providing information, options and support to make getting the right beverages for a balanced lifestyle even easier. We’ve also launched a national initiative to talk to teens about the importance of balancing foods, drinks and physical activity. We’ve removed full-calorie sodas from schools and our new goal to cut beverage calories consumed per person by 20 percent by 2025 is the single largest voluntary effort by an industry to help fight obesity…”

Wonderful. So does this mean they are also cutting back on advertising their sugar loaded beverages to low income communities as well through 2025? Should we expect to see less sugar loaded Coca Cola, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper ads in magazines, movies, on television, billboards and marketed across social media in order to reach that goal?

They are going to remind us that their beverage options also include water. They aren’t going to say how much water to drink, because they want us to balance drinking water with drinking other beverages like lower calorie sports drinks or their smaller sized sodas on the market. Very clever.

Here’s the problem. Most of us have tried smaller portion sizes of unhealthy drinks, and with addictive substances like sugar, cutting back only a little triggers cravings for other processed foods and drinks. For most of us, sugar in small amounts gradually becomes sugar in larger amounts over time.

Fortunately, public health advocacy organizations and universities across the country are highlighting the messaging and tactics from the food and beverage industry aimed at our kids, also providing resources and tools for parents and community advocates to stay informed.

Learn more about some of the latest practices and interventions to keep children and their families healthier:

The Miseducated Dieter page on Facebook is a community-driven social forum established to identify some of the conflicting news on all things “dietary” — the forum also highlights books, articles, inspiring quotes, and helpful resources to combat the growing influx of misinformation on what makes for “healthy” eating and active living across the globe.

“Everyone loves Slurpee drinks, especially the kids at St. Jude,” says Ena Williams, senior vice president of 7-Eleven. “When we took our mobile Slurpee stand to the hospital and gave away free drinks, it was a special treat for the children and a heart-warming experience for us. Our Franchisees are active supporters of St. Jude, and we want to help them support this worthy cause to end childhood cancer.”

7-Eleven does offer fruits, vegetables and bottled water. What about fundraising to fight cancer by promoting products that don’t create other health related diseases? Win-win. And 7-Eleven will receive a tax-break incentive for the $200,000 to St. Jude’s – whether it’s raised from sugary drink sales or healthier items, right? (Yes. They do.)

7‑Eleven, Inc. is largest chain in the convenience-retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas, 7‑Eleven® operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 60,000 stores in 18 countries, including 10,700 in North America. Some interesting “Fun Facts” on the Slurpee® from the 7-Eleven Corporate website:

The #1 market in the world for Slurpee drink sales is Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, followed by the greater Detroit, Michigan area.*

Michigan is home to eight of the top 10 Slurpee-selling stores in the company, with Detroit-area stores selling about 3.5 times as many Slurpee drinks per day than the average U.S. store.

7‑Eleven guests sip more than 14 million Slurpee beverages each month. Since introduced in 1966, some 7.2 billion Slurpee drinks have been sold, enough for every person on the planet.

You might be thinking, hey it’s a sweet treat for a great cause. Chill-out, Mom. Problem is, sugar isn’t only found in the occasional sweet-treat dessert. It’s loaded throughout processed foods like breakfast cereals, packaged snacks and juice drinks consumed daily by most kids.

Parents, watch out for school “fundraising”programs and other sneaky sugar-marketing tricks tied to local restaurants and fast-food establishments, too.

– Children 2 to 18 should consume no more than about six teaspoons of added sugars (25 grams) in their daily diets, according to recommendations from the American Heart Association.

Kimberly Cooper, MA is a development consultant, writer (Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, SF Chronicle), and former chief of operations for the “Reducing Childhood Obesity” initiative – a partnership between First 5 LA and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Current pro-bono projects (The Miseducated Dieter) include launching and publicizing sustainable programs impacting community health, education and wellness policy implementation for underserved populations via social media.

In January 2016, inspired by the extraordinary power of “Hashtag Activism” through the Ferguson, Eric Garner & Tamir Rice protests here in the United States, I set out on a mission.

First, utilize social media – namely Twitter & Facebook, to see just how much I could learn and share about the overabundance of conflicting information on dietary health, along with pinpointing gaps in access to nutrition education and resources for low-income communities in other parts of the world.

Next, connect with public health advocates via social media to do something about it. The catch – social media would be the primary platform used to access and cultivate these relationships.

Why Social Media?

The Miseducated Dieter was initially launched as a social media experiment. What I’ve discovered over the past year and the connections I was able to make using only my Twitter timeline, “Retweets” and Twitter DM (direct messaging) continues to blow me away.

Global networks of concerned public health advocates share breaking information with one another (and the public) in a matter of seconds – all while oceans apart in distance. Courses in public health, webinars on how to blog for social justice, Twitter chats with national organizations promoting health education and tips for reducing sugar consumption were floating around the Twittersphere – at no cost.

Imagine the possibilities if we began teaching kids how to take advantage of those resources? Better yet, teaching youth how to create their own resources and share them with their peers across the globe.

Interested in learning more? Check out a preview of what’s coming soon!

The Miseducated Dieter page on Facebook is a community-driven social forum for those on (or still recovering from) a diet! Established to identify some of the conflicting news on all things “dietary” — the forum also highlights books, articles, inspiring quotes, and helpful resources to combat the growing influx of misinformation on what makes for “healthy” eating and active living across the globe.

Image Credit: Illustration by Sir John Tenniel for Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass

Donald Trump in the White House?

I can’t even.

Ok, yes I can. We all can. Baby steps.

For nearly two weeks since the election every writing pen in this house felt dry. My fingers refused to scale a keyboard. Shock? Maybe. Disgust? Absolutely. Even Robert De Niro, America’s favorite “GoodFella” likened it to the way he felt just after 9/11 so there’s that. Trump at the presidential wheel brings with it groundbreaking uncertainty, saturated with ‘oh shit, what now?’ media cherries on top.

How could we let this happen?

We all held tickets to Trump’s roadshow circus after he declared war against the browning of America through his narcissistic media campaign against Muslims and Mexicans. Some of us even stood in line for the popcorn and drinks. We cracked jokes and recirculated memes over Facebook. We snickered, poked and rolled our eyes at his family. Whoa, is this is our new First Family? We were warned. Some of us heard you too, Mr. Moore!

We didn’t really grasp the way the U.S. Electoral College works (and still don’t). We knew to discard most of whatever CNN, MSNBC and Fox News pundits recycled, though still watched on occasion and retweeted their soundbites accordingly. By the way, nearly 47% of eligible voters didn’t show up to the polls to prevent our candidates from taking office either.

How did we get here? Privileged ignorance. And as Americans all of us have it, so we must get off that high-horse we may be riding out to pasture. While certain privilege allows us to power down the computer and place the phone on vibrate when we’ve seen or heard enough from our social media news feed, privileged ignorance allows us to compartmentalize racism and bigotry far enough away from the ballot box when it’s time to vote. Privileged ignorance allows for women to vote a misogynistic “p*ssy-grabber” into office, and privileged ignorance allows Christians nationwide to publicly endorse a bigot backed by the KKK for President.

They say we fell asleep at the wheel on November 8, 2016. Correction. This “United & Divided” States of America along with its narrative where white supremacy trumps all things coloured is nothing new. We’ve maintained this racial slumber for generations dating back to 1776 – or was it 1492? This is our history. Our American history. And it’s been tremendously successful for a distinct few.

Rebirth of a Nation

Sure, let’s make America great again. From where I sit, the process began nearly a decade ago when Barack Obama – a black man with a white mother, announced he was running for President of the United States. Then won. A couple years later I would serve on the team of public health advocates who because of Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and his Affordable Care Act created jobs, health initiatives and community transformation programs through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for four of the eight years he was in office.

We worked with families, schools, churches, community centers, and alongside other agencies to bring renewal, action and revitalization to the 10 million+ residents here throughout Los Angeles County. The thought that those years — along with millions of dollars in federal investments — may evaporate into thin air does chillingly feel like its own 9/11 when operating from a place of fear. But our President remains steadfast in our ability to overcome this electoral upset. “This is not the apocalypse,” Obama continues to reassure us.

Vocalizing warranted concerns and frustration over our broken political system — in the streets or at the playhouse is our constitutional right, but unless Trump rigged the game so that nearly 50% of the population didn’t bother to vote, we need to hold ourselves responsible for much of our own complacency throughout this election cycle too. Finger-pointing may be par for the course, but will only get us so far.

Perhaps it’s my own privileged ignorance that allows me to rationalize Trump’s forthcoming presidency as the ultimate “half-time” extravaganza. The principal performers of his troupe light up our TV sets and Twitter feeds while the real team players regroup in the locker room for the next four years. Yes, wishful thinking and a splash of denial, however it’s been less than a month and the initial shock remains thick.

With time, a clearer picture will emerge and once we remove the log from our eyes, we may be better equipped to follow the ball. Then work together.

When I began exploring the ways we have been miseducated through conflicting information about healthy eating earlier this year, little did I realize how much I would start to feel a bit like Dorothy following the yellow brick road into the land of Oz.

This journey through 2016 however, was thankfully far more than I bargained for. Instead of jumping aboard yet another “New Year’s Resolution” fully-loaded with willpower and tips for trimming calories and sweating more (on purpose), — this time around some of the leading experts in obesity prevention, public health and community activism would weigh in on some of the common missteps veteran dieters like myself were making…

The Biology of Obesity I learned through the first three months of the year just how much processed foods and sugar affects mental health and brain function. I didn’t just read about it, I lived it through the Always Hungry plan from Dr. David Ludwig.A self-proclaimed veteran dieter with scars to prove it, I was skeptical. Then food cravings disappeared in less than two weeks and the brain fog was gone… Read more…

Myths About Weight Loss & Physical Activity Now following a daily food plan that included healthier fats (hello avocado!) and minimal sugars, I took to re-schooling myself on exercise. Where should I begin? How much should what I eat factor into my exercise and weight loss plan? Diet Fix author Dr. Yoni Freedhoff shares on the misconceptions around exercise for weight loss and the myths surrounding “no-pain/no gain” in order to see results… Read more…

Navigating the Terrain of Emotional Eating For some eaters, distinguishing the difference between the biological and emotional cravings for food is largely underdeveloped. “Emotional eating” is a component to the obesity crisis worldwide that is too often overlooked. When Eating is the Tip of the Iceberg with New York Times Bestselling author Geneen Roth (Women, Food and God), offers methods for how to approach and expand obesity prevention initiatives to account for mental health too. Read more…

External Influences Impacting Healthy Eating & Active Living…

After some early successes following a low carbohydrate, healthier fat food plan, I began to take stock in the new food on our table and how it was affecting the health of my family. I soon began taking a closer look at what was being offered at the local grocery store, neighborhood restaurant and even within the school lunch program at my kids’ schools in order to maintain these new healthier eating habits. Then I began looking to the news headlines. Was a fat-free diet the answer to the obesity woes as previously believed, or had it actually made us sicker?

How Food Marketing Targets Children Once I understood a bit more about processed foods and insulin resistance, my approach to exercise, and the emotional reasons I may reach for the fork, – the abundance of external influences heavily impacting the ability to make healthier choices on a daily basis was hard to ignore. When unfamiliar with the external factors impacting (if not promoting) the obesity epidemic among our most vulnerable population – children, we leave room for the industry to shift blame and responsibility back to parents and caregivers. Learn more about some of the latest practices and interventions to keep children and their families healthier. Read more…

Coming in October 2017 – Black Lives & The Built Environment with South LA’s Gangsta Gardener Ron Finley

Image Credit: Delirio Films – Can You Dig This, 2015

Our proximity to healthy food options along with safe spaces for exercise and recreation, largely impact the choices we make when it’s time to eat. While it’s easy to say: make your own food, eat more vegetables and fruits, and get outside and walk more – not all community environments were created equitably to accomplish these goals. What happens when your neighborhood community is saturated with junk-food infested liquor stores and healthy options aren’t regularly accessible?

Ron Finley, LA’s “Gangsta Gardener” has helped expand the food movement by addressing the food deserts throughout South Los Angeles. Finley’s 2013 TEDTalk now has over 2.8 million views and counting – and he’s since traveled the globe to inspire the development of urban community gardens across the US, Ireland, Qatar, Italy, Sweden and Greece. “Too many families lack access and exposure to safe and healthy food, says Finley. “It is by design that the cheapest and most available food options to them are the junk food in their corner stores and fast-food joints promoting obesity and diabetes…” Learn more about his plan for sustainable change in Los Angeles and across the globe!

Check out the trailer for Can You Dig This here:

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The Miseducated Dieter page on Facebook is a community-driven social forum established to identify some of the conflicting news on all things “dietary” — the forum also highlights books, articles, inspiring quotes, and helpful resources to combat the growing influx of misinformation on what makes for “healthy” eating and active living across the globe.

“Wait…so she’s your daughter?” said one of the mothers while shopping a at Pottery Barn for Kids when Cami was just four years old. A handful of preschoolers were playing amidst pots and pans at the kitchen display station in the center of the store. My daughter Cami was one of them.

“That’s so…interesting.” She looked again at Cami then back at me, and then looked again at her father who was standing a few feet away with our 17-month old son. I knew what was coming next, as I had heard it before quite often.

Like most parents of multiracial and transracially-adopted children, I am often reminded of the visually oriented society that surrounds us. My daughter’s then wavy brown-blond hair, almond-shaped eyes, and what her father and I had coined as her “perma-tan” skin, often created this sort of social exchange from complete strangers at shopping malls, grocery stores and parks. Cami looks white, but she isn’t. Not entirely.

My daughter (now 15), would soon learn for herself as I did growing up with a white mother and black father, that to be multiracial in America comes with its own set of inevitable challenges imposed by other people. Fortunately for her generation, the odds for greater understanding of her multi-ethnic background stands increasingly in her favor.

We May Be a Mix of Different Looks, Not One in Particular

Me (age 8) with my sister, Kelley (age 3)

Before my son was born, I often wondered what he would look like since, growing up, my own sister and I didn’t always look as though we came from the same family. Although we shared the same light- brown skin color, she was the one with long-flowing “renaissance” curls down below her waist by the time she reached four-years-old. While I, occasionally mistaken for her older brother, was well acquainted with the afro-pick by age 9… the long lost cousin of the Jackson-5 my mother used to say.

My earliest memories of my sister were playing “dress-up”, and “styling salon”- with her as my subject. I so badly wanted hair like hers…the kind worn up in pigtails with ribbons or a French braid. The options she had for wearing her hair seemed endless; even my mother commented on how much fun it was to style her hair. “To pick…or not to pick”, was the extent of hair-styling options for me. Even my hair was a mixed-race experience. I had wavy hair up front with kinky thick hair at the base of my head. I was quite resourceful, soon creating alternatives for my then out-of-control crop-top.

Kayla, Mattel’s ‘Multiracial’ Barbie was launched in 2002 after Census 2000 illustrated a marketable demographic of young mixed-race children.

By about 6-years-old, I was wearing the next best hairdo: a yellow knit swaddling blanket given to my mother for me before I was born. Wrapping it around my head and placing button-pins (barrettes didn’t work) on the sides was how I wore it around the house. It was my long luxurious blond hair. My friend Julie up the street had blond hair, which I thought was awesome- just like a Barbie doll. While it may be easy for some to jump to conclusions and argue that deep down I wanted to be white – I was too young to think about racial identity in such a complex way. I wanted what I saw on TV and there were few options for mixed-race girls like me. (The first “multiracial” Barbie doll named “Kayla” didn’t hit the market until 2002 – and even her hair was bone-straight.)

I was by no means colorblind as a young child, but since virtually anywhere you went in Los Angeles you could find a person who wasn’t white, my parents having different skin colors didn’t strike me as particularly unusual. Nor was the fact that people found my sister and I interesting because we looked like a mix of different ethnicities, yet not one in particular.

With Mom at 3 months in 1974

Outsider Influences

“I didn’t know your Mom was…WHITE.” People would often comment about my mother’s skin color when seeing her for the first time. After awhile I just began to tune it out. To me she was just mom – not my white mom. If other people were getting hung up on skin color, it was more their problem than mine.

My father once said in order for a mixed race marriage to work, you’d have to be committed. If you were insecure and worried too much about what other people had to say, it would be those outsiders who could tear your relationship apart. This caution also applied to my growing up biracial and asserting a mixed-race or multiracial identity. I have heard more negative assumptions and projections regarding my self-esteem and ability to find a “place” within the world simply because my parents were of two separate racial backgrounds. Rarely people bothered asking what I thought about my own racial identity, or how I saw myself in relationship to other racial groups. I was always nudged to pick a side. Those people didn’t comprehend or talk about race the way my family could – I couldn’t pick a side. Neither one fit.

Not only have I been empowered by my multiracial perspective, but I can understand to further extent why other people may be limited in their thinking about race. They simply haven’t had the same immediate daily exposure to interracial perspectives like I have. Both my parents raised us to realize that there were always going to be people in this world that would be spiteful and unjust, yet it was up to us to make sure that those narrow-minded people never got the best of us.

“Papa” with Cameron & Noah

What About the Children?

“Mixed race children would be the ones that could promote change”, my parents would remind us. Yikes. No pressure. However my mother (who passed 21 years ago on October 27, 1995) believed and instilled in us the potential for proving through our very existence that racial integration was the key to unity and progression within America. This was a far cry from the racially separatist dogma throughout the days of Jim Crow and “Separate but Equal” policies enforcing segregated schools and public spaces when my father was in grade school.

The Supreme Court case Loving vs.Virginia ended the ban on interracial marriages in the U.S. in 1967. (My parents met in 1968.) However it took another 30+ years for the children of those marriages (myself included) to be legitimized by the U.S. government. (Census 2000)

Because interracial families and children often present different looks within the family, it’s proven much easier for others to dismiss our communities as complicated or confusing – even nonexistent. While in the 4th grade my son Noah was told he was white, after a teacher told the students to “choose the race” they belonged to for a classroom project on diversity. Multiracial wasn’t an option and he was unclear about how to answer the question. We don’t fit easily into boxes. We might be too difficult to place and accommodate within racial and multicultural classification systems – especially those established historically to keep the races separate. As a result, it is commonly misunderstood that the children from these families must have the same problem understanding and accepting themselves.

I am living proof that this isn’t always the case.And I’m certainly not alone.

When I crossed the borders of my culturally enriched family I learned that the world waiting outside wasn’t necessarily ready for who I was, and more importantly what I signified. I learned as a teen during the late 80’s and early 90’s that I was considered this individual that wasn’t quite black enough and would never be considered white. That wasn’t a problem for me, however. I was both.

“It doesn’t really matter how you see yourself,” I was often told. “Society will determine what you are and where you belong.” How outdated this sounded! For some of us, embracing a “biracial” identity would be the only option. And if it wasn’t available, we’d do what was needed to change it.

But with every article I would write, or interview I would give to the press over the years, without fail, members of what my mother referred to as the Peanut Gallery would come out to voice just how wrong I was about my identity and how I saw myself. Never mind that I’d probably spent more time and energy researching and exploring multiracial identity academically, and live a mixed race experience inherently and daily. Thankfully, as societal patterns and media representations continue shifting in support of diversity, the embrace of a biracial or multiracial identity becomes less and less problematic to maintain.

Multiracial Activism – Is there such a thing?

As a teen I grabbed anything I could get my hands on regarding mixed race or “multiracial” identity and why it sparked so much animosity from certain people. The journey took me to the University of California, Berkeley where I found a wealth of information through their Ethnic Studies Department and their courses on the mixed race experience in America. Imagine, coursework and resources highlighting the experiences of multiracial people, movies, academics and families from all over the world. I felt I’d found my people, my history. Our existence blurred every racial border and fixed category the United States crafted to keep the races separated. I had just the right amount faith to believe that other students would benefit from these resources too – they simply needed to know how and where to find the information.

When my mother died, the circumstances from that night in 1995 only solidified my fervor to educate people about biracial identity and multiracial families here in the U.S. Those of us in the earlier days of social media activism took to online “webzines” in the late ’90s like The Interracial Voice and The Multiracial Activist to sound off against these injustices and criticisms against our communities.

The 1st National Conference in the U.S. on the Multiracial Child took place in 2002.

It was here where many of us could access and share resources with one another – conferences, student run mixed-race organizations across the U.S. and abroad, and local and national community coalitions providing support to families and friends from different racial backgrounds were easy to find across the web. I also realized these online outlets were the first places reporters and journalists would go to comb through our editorials for a story on interracial relationships and mixed race children.

Learning how to sniff out the drama-seekers soon became a mandatory practice. So did building a tough layer of skin against the haters of all things mixed-race, biracial or multiracial. We were the living embodiment of racial integration, and many people, black and white – didn’t like that. For generations there were laws on the books attempting prevent our existence, and yet there we were anyway. (And we weren’t going anywhere.) Adding insult to injury, agenda-oriented journalists and news outlets often refused to share our empowered voices with the public, opting instead to publicize the negative stereotypes about our families. But we kept moving forward anyway.

Talking with a fellow activist years ago while on the board for a local non-profit organization for people of mixed racial heritage, we rolled our eyes at how often we were contacted by members of the press for interviews and “special reports” about interracial marriage and the poor unfortunate children from those relationships. We found it rather amusing that people obviously unfamiliar with the mixed-race experience continued to view us as somehow living within the Bermuda Triangle.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not attempting to paint the picture that the multiracial experience isn’t at times a difficult road to travel. It absolutely can be – especially when other people beyond our community have had limited access to information on multiracial children and interracial families. Resources about mixed-race or multiracial children aren’t only for us! If the aim is to embrace and prepare children for the diversity within the world we live in, our families and experiences should be included as well.

In 2016, with the power of social media and modern technology, the ability for this generation to access resources celebrating and supporting culturally diverse families is simply a “point-click” away.

Mom & Dad, 1972

My parents were also living proof that although race can certainly divide some people, it certainly didn’t break their 22-year interracial marriage (ending when my mother died from a diabetic stroke in 1995) or the self-esteem of their children. They raised me as biracial – both black and white. I was raised to believe that I could befriend, date, and marry whomever I wanted – as long as I was treated with love, dignity and respect. They told me that while people may try and make things harder for me because of my color, society was often misguided about most things when it came to race. My parents couldn’t have been more right. I would learn as they prepared me to follow in their footsteps, that later I too could prepare my children to follow in mine.

Where do we go from here?

There is still much work to be done, but pushing for multicultural education and access to resources inclusive of our culturally diverse families is critical. If you are reading this now, thank you. If you know of other children and families who may benefit from this information, please share it. If we don’t speak up for our community, others may continue to do it for us.

Nowadays my son (12) and daughter (15) are often schooling me about the latest resources and films making their way to the general public about interracial families like ours. Very exciting! Several of the articles here on Literatigurl.com were inspired by those conversations. A great reminder that if you are willing to listen and empower your kids with an appreciation for cultural diversity, they may one day have a great deal to teach you too.

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Kimberly Cooper, MA is a former advisory council member for the Association of Multiethnic Americans (AMEA). She has given lectures locally and nationally on the mixed-race experience and been interviewed by various newspapers and media including ABC News, National Public Radio and The Los Angeles Times, regarding news stories and research related to the U.S. Census and the multiracial community in Los Angeles. Her article, “An Educational Defense of Multiracial Identity: Celebrate Rather than Assimilate Biracial Heritages” published by the San Francisco Chronicle, examines the effects of Census 2000 with regard to U.S. education. She’s now a development consultant for non-profit agencies on race, health and education, and contributes to The Huffington Post and Literatigurl.com